US DoD Releases Acquisition Reports for Deviating & Milestoned Programs

The US Department of Defense has released details per Congress’ Selected Acquisition Reports (SARs) requirements for the Sept. 30, 2005, reporting period. SARs summarize the latest estimates of a major program’s cost, schedule, and technical status. Quarterly SARs are submitted for initial reports, final reports, and for programs that are rebaselined at major milestone decisions. Subsequent quarterly exception reports are required only for those programs experiencing unit cost increases of at least 15% or schedule delays of at least 6 months. Total program costs reflect actual costs to date as well as future anticipated costs, and includes anticipated inflation allowances – sources at Bell Helicopter explained that this is why the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter was listed as a $2.2 billion program by DID (current dollars), but a $3.57 billion program in its initial baseline SAR submission. The overall document is relatively short and to the point, chronicling everything from new program baselines (ARH helicopters, JLENS aerostats) to regular program milestone reporting (F/A-22 fighter, LHD Wasp Class finishing under budget), to programs experiencing 15%+ cost slippage and/or 6 month+ delays (CVN-21 carrier, DD (X) destroyer, SBIRS satellites, ACS spy planes, etc.) The full document can be found here.